More thoughts, trends, and links from the worlds of training, learning, business, and technology.

Monday, February 28, 2005

Workflow Learning Symposium, online

You might think workflow learning is just another buzzword and the Next Big Hype, but it's my and others' opinion that it's where learning is going. Jay Cross, co-founder of the Workflow Institute, pointed out on the institute's blog recently that the proceedings and support materials for the October 2004 Workflow Learning Symposium are available online.

The materials include presentations from and interviews of such notable names as Gloria Gery, Tony O'Driscoll, Harvey Singh, Clark Quinn, and of course Jay Cross. A discussion space is also provided.

"Honesty in Online Education." "This article attempts to critically analyze the arguments on both sides of the online cheating debate while presenting techniques for circumventing and alleviating issues related with online education."

"Climbing the Pay Scale." Business 2.0 takes a look at labor shortages happening now and their effect on salaries. Expect even more of this in the future; I report on the issue in my upcoming April Intelligence column.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

This press release on our redesign went out today. The expansion of my Intelligence column was highlighted--nice.

We hope you like the changes. I'll post the link to the March issue when we have it up.

ASTD’s T+D Magazine to Unveil a New Look, Content Enhancements

Publication Re-design will debut March 2005

(Alexandria, VA) February 24, 2005 – Readers of Training + Development (T+D) magazine, published by the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD), will see a more practical and personality-driven magazine as it launches a new design and some content changes in the March issue. For almost six decades, T+D magazine has covered the art and science of developing people and the systems in which they work to produce results.

Rex Davenport, editor of T+D magazine, anticipates positive reactions to the enhancements in the March issue. “Real-life, actionable items are the name of the game with this re-design,” he said. “Readers will notice that the articles are more applicable to the profession, with less focus on theory. We will incorporate business authors as a complement to the industry writers.”

Some of the new additions and modifications include:

- One page dedicated to research from ASTD and other organizations

- An expanded Intelligence section will open the magazine with news and developing trends

- Shorter, more succinct articles

- An increased focus on “hot-button” topics, or burning issues, in the profession

Readers will also begin to see themselves in the magazine, as the content will profile individuals who make up the workplace learning and performance industry. “New Guard,” a special section that recognizes professionals who separate themselves from their peers through innovative and unique practices, was formerly part of one issue each year. Now, every issue will end with a “New Guard” profile.

In 2004, T+D magazine was named by ICA (Independent Consultants Association) on its list of "Ten Essential Magazines for Consultants.” The American Society of Business Publication Editors awarded special recognition to the column “The Web” in 2002.

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

This Webinar, co-sponsored by the Human Capital Institute and Monster.com, will take place Wednesday, March 23rd from 1 to 2:30 pm EST.

The HCI Website reads:

"Faced with a rapidly aging workforce and a potential wave of retirements, the public sector is turning once again to colleges and universities in search of new recruits. But you may already have noticed that the competition for recruiting students and recent grads has intensified in recent months. Career fairs are bursting with more employer booths, Recruiters are returning to campuses, and students are finding that they have more choices when seeking a new career. Join campus recruitment experts Graham Donald and Roger Campbell as we discuss pressing topics like building a presence on campus with constrained resources, attracting the right candidates and connecting with today's students."

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

A company called WhatCounts has just announced the first "blogging in a box" applicance for companies that want to incorporate blogs into their communications strategies.

BlogUnit is "tuned to network security requirements and can be up-and-running in 15 minutes." It can be used to "author, manage, measure, deliver, and syndicate" blogs.

According to E-Media Tidbits, which pointed me to this news item, the appliance helps resolve one concern companies often have with blogs: employees posting unreviewed content. An approval and permission system is built in.

The president and CEO of WhatCounts says, “Blogging is a growing reality for corporations worldwide as they look for ways to improve communications with their key audiences...But there are a myriad of issues, such as accountability, accuracy and security that corporations have to address as they get into this new territory.”

At a quick glance, it seems as if this could be a good solution for companies that want to get into blogging but are nervous about the security and permissions issues. And blogging can be a KM solution, as explained in this T+D blog post and the additional posts listed at the end.

"Diploma mills provide phony credentials." ...the federal government has paid more than $7.5 million in tuition reimbursements, making the United States 'the largest supplier of diploma mills in our country.'" I wrote about avoiding diploma mills here.

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Mobile learning

I'm beginning research for an upcoming Learning Circuits article on mobile learning, with the focus being the hype versus the reality.

If your organization is currently doing mobile learning (via cell phone, PDA, etc.) or is investigating it for possible launch in the future, please email me at ekaplan at astd.org. I'd love to ask you a few questions.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

I received a press release on this portal that enables users to search for classroom and online training offered by various providers. (In November I wrote about a similar service, Findaseminar.com.)

In any case (here comes the commentary you all asked for), I think this kind of thing is a good idea, but in both cases I found the offerings pretty slim compared to the number of providers and courses I know are out there.

It's kind of a catch-22: You need providers to add their courses to have a good service, but people won't add their listings if the service isn't good in the first place.

What I like about TrainUp's idea is that it attempts to offer course reviews provided by learners (the Website says "coming summer 2004," but none seem to be available yet) as well as a way for individuals to track the training they've signed up for.

Does anyone know of a service that does this kind of thing well? Or is a centralized database of training offered across the U.S., in a wide range of subject areas, and from a large number of providers just a Holy Grail that's too difficult to pull off?

Monday, February 14, 2005

More original commentary

So the winner on the survey of what readers want to see more of on this blog is original commentary. Thanks for letting me know that you'd like to see more of my thoughts. Original commentary is the type of information that takes the most time to develop, so I had reduced the amount I was offering as I've been juggling other things. It's good to know my thoughts are missed, though, so I will try to include more of this as my schedule permits!

Here are some stats that may surprise you: More than two-thirds of executives say they've had a secret crush on a co-worker. Close to half have been involved in an office romance. An excerpt from a press release I received is below.

"The survey of 734 executives in the $100k+ job market found that a combination of long hours, close quarters and the slow hum of the photocopy machine may be the perfect recipe for romance. When asked: Have you ever harbored a secret crush on a co-worker; a full 68 percent of the executives surveyed said, 'yes.' Only 32 percent said, 'no.'

As for those workers who’ve taken the crush one step further, 42 percent of those responding to a related survey of 1,044 executives said that they have been involved in a full-fledged office romance.

How many of these PowerPoint and Excel spreadsheet-fueled romances involved infidelity? When asked in a third survey of 1,349 executives: Have you ever had an extramarital affair with a co-worker; 17 percent of respondents said, 'yes.' Thinking better of the repercussions of this type of romance, the 83 percent majority said they had not been adulterous with a co-worker.

'At its best, a healthy work environment is an intense, inspiring, challenging and gratifying place,' explained TheLadders.com founder and president, Marc Cenedella. 'While this combination can sometimes create a hothouse for emotional ties to the people we spend so much time with, office romances are not generally good for your career track. Executives who are serious about their careers need to think about business first; courting Alice in accounting isn’t the best way to maintain that killer instinct.'

TheLadders.com’s look at Office Valentines is based on a series of three independent surveys of registered $100k+ executives conducted on TheLadders.com Web site between January 11, 2005 and February 3, 2005."

"Top 10 Practices in Knowledge Management." "The first three practices detail how companies create forums for exchanging ideas, the next two focus on aligning knowledge management with strategies and the final five focus on best practice identification."

In April of last year I wrote about the Bad Bossology site, which provides a wealth of resources on how to handle or minimize the impact of bad bosses.

Now the site has launched an anonymous "email this link" feature, which enables people to "safely email resources to their bosses and senior management to address difficult boss behaviors and promote useful discussion."

The press release I received said that about 40 percent of employees have had to deal with a bad boss--and that surveys have shown that a major reason employees leave companies is their immediate supervisor. (Also known as the "people leave people, not companies" theory.) Studies I've seen uphold this idea; in fact I was just writing about it for my April Intelligence column.

The site may sound like a joke, but the helpful resources it provides are no laughing matter!

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

New salary and career-planning resources

ASTD has recently partnered with Salary.com to provide new salary and career planning resources free to registered users through our online Career Center. (Click on Salary Calculator to access all the tools.)

This enhancement to our Career Center includes the following licensed content:
Salary WizardTM: Provides pay data (national average, adjusted by zip code) for jobs searchable by category and location.
Executive Compensation Wizard: Discloses compensation of executives of publicly-traded companies (drawn from SEC proxy filings)
Cost-of-Living Wizard: Helps users compare the cost-of-living across multiple locations.
College Tuition Planner: Helps users choose a savings-rate appropriate to the cost of a child’s future college education.
Job Assessor: Helps users determine which of two job opportunities is better for them.
Millionaire Maker: Helps users determine the age at which their specified savings rate will yield total savings of $1 million.
Salary Timer: Helps users compare their salary to salaries earned by celebrities, on a dollars-per-second basis.
Salary Articles: Delivers timely information and advice on compensation-related topics. (coming soon)

Monday, February 07, 2005

Webinar tomorrow

Sorry for the late notice--Pilat and AberdeenGroup are hosting a free online Webinar tomorrow to discuss the findings from AberdeenGroup’s report "Employee Performance Management: The Aligned, Performance Driven Workforce."

The survey is showing that some of you want more links to T+D articles. So I'll make sure to post here each month when the new month's articles are up on the T+D site. I can't link directly from here to the articles because some are members-only/available for purchase and the rest require registration, but I can tell you what's available, and then you can click to the T+D site.

Also, look for a new T+D Website design coming in the next couple of months. It will jive with the new look for T+D that will launch in March. (The Website may not be ready at the beginning of March because of time needed by our pulled-in-a-million-directions Web team to do the work.)

What about this blog, you ask? It could surely use some design touches. Plans are in the works to relaunch this blog with a better design and better integrated technology (ie, comments, RSS feed, etc.). Stay tuned for that as well in upcoming months.

"Does Knowledge Management Still Matter?"By T+D editor Rex Davenport
Discredited or not, gathering useful knowledge and managing its distribution and use is a vital organizational need--despite what it's called or who actually controls the process.

"The Results Chain"By Geary A. Rummler and Kimberly Morrill
Using the results chain, you can increase the effect you have on your organization's performance--and on the value received by its customers.

"The Inside Pitch"By Theresa Seagraves (author of the ASTD book Quick! Show Me Your Value)
Communicate the value of training tersely and in the language of your CEO.

"Small Businesses Bask in Training's Spotlight"By Paul Harris
When it comes to training, small businesses often ride in the rear of the bus, overlooked by many training suppliers playing the numbers game. But that picture is changing.

"Growing Strong Leaders," an ASTD BEST Award winner profile
By Josephine Rossi
Equity Residential has an emphasis on solid personal development that cultivates capable leaders and self-awareness.

Departments:

--My Intelligence column, "The Changing Workforce," talks about the fascinating study "Generation and Gender in the Workplace."
--Guru Allison Rossett writes a Fundamentals column on "Moving Online"
--The new New Guard column profiles Holly Huntley, director and CLO of global learning and development management for Computer Sciences Corp.
--and more!

Friday, February 04, 2005

More on the survey, and Best this week

Responses to the blog survey are still coming in--thanks to those who have participated so far--and it's not too late for those who are just seeing it. So far it looks like a slight majority want more links to outside articles, but that's not to say that I won't try to incorporate all of your feedback as much as I can. I'll write a bit more on survey results after people have had more time to answer.